Have IT Managers been hit by a crisis of data centre confidence?

The speed at which technology has changed our lives is incredible. Ten years ago, it would’ve been hard to believe how widespread the use of it would become. For example, over 2.4 billion people are using the Internet today and Google now handles 100 billion searches every month. The rapid pace of technology innovation has completely transformed the way we work. Though many of these advances have been for the better, some are also keeping IT decision-makers up at night. Especially data centre strategy planning. We’ve just unveiled the findings of a pan-European research report, Planning Anxiety, which reveals that a staggering 90% of IT managers feel anxious about their data centre planning so much so, their work is impacted. What’s the reason for this? Is it due to a lack of capital planning or resource? Or is it outdated technology holding them back? Are IT managers just feeling under-prepared for the future? It seems that there’s more than just one reason for this anxiety. After all, there are various external and internal forces impacting IT workforces. For instance, security could be said to be one of the drivers of anxiety, with 64% worried about the integrity and security of their data and applications. Regulatory pressures abroad were also a concern for many, as ‘restrictive and unfamiliar legislation’ makes it harder for businesses to expand operations abroad. These concerns are having an impact on how IT managers work, with 54% of them stating they spend more time on data centre planning and strategy than they believe should be necessary. Another recent Colt research report – The Tech Deficit – showed that 90% of IT decision makers believe that their data centre infrastructure needs to evolve over the next two years to meet business needs. IT managers seem aware that their infrastructure needs to evolve, but the concerns around being able to make changes could be holding them back.Reading this, you may be wondering – what can we possibly do to alleviate these widespread concerns? The good news is that 79% of IT managers are confident that their co-location strategy will meet their business needs. The survey revealed the existence of this ‘confidence paradox’ – where despite IT managers state they feel planning anxiety and this impacts their work, many are confident in their strategy. We expect more companies to partner with specialists, such as colocation providers, to help streamline their data centre planning. In spite of the concerns around complexity and security, data centre planning shouldn’t – and doesn’t have to be – an arduous process. Organisations should be enabled to focus on their core business, partnering with those who can help mitigate their business risk, ensure flexibility in their offerings all whilst being easy to do business with can support this objective. To find out more about how Colt can help, contact us or read Colt’s Planning Anxiety report and how IT managers are feeling the pinch when it comes to data centre planning. Download the findings here.